Hughes rues Man City's inability to close out games

London: Six points from a possible 15, three draws in succession, just one win in five and seven consecutive matches without keeping a clean sheet. The numbers suggest that reality is setting in for Manchester City, now that the euphoria has worn off.

Breaking the top four had seemed like a breeze. Mark Hughes knows now it does not take much for the storm clouds to gather. Just as at Villa Park and the DW Stadium, City's soft centre proved their undoing.

Gifted a reprieve by Bobby Zamora's remarkable miss and the lead by goals from Joleon Lescott and Martin Petrov, any of those sides City dream of toppling from the Champions League places would have simply shut the game down.

That Hughes's team could not, that Damien Duff and Clint Dempsey were gifted soft goals to draw Roy Hodgson's side level, serves as a timely reminder for Hughes that there is still much work to be done.

"If we had not conceded [the first Fulham goal], if we had closed them out for another 10 or 15 minutes, we would have won quite comfortably," the City manager said.

"We need to do better in terms of our positioning, because we have been caught out like that a couple of times.

Missed chance

"It is not just us, though, and our goals-against column is not too bad compared to some of the teams around us." That it is not one worse, though, rests squarely on the shoulders of Zamora. Had he converted the simple chance presented to him after two minutes of the second half, City, disjointed and lethargic, looked ill-equipped to recover.

"It was a horrific miss," admitted Hodgson of Zamora's shot, ballooned into the South Stand after Shay Given parried Dempsey's effort to his feet, barely six yards out.

"People who see the highlights will see the miss, but not the other 96 minutes, in which he was magnificent. It could have been a crowning moment for his performance, but instead it will be seen as a blot on his copybook. I find that very sad for him."

The striker had barely had time for the blush to rise to his cheeks before Lescott had swept the hosts into the lead, bundling home Craig Bellamy's corner after both Gareth Barry and Emmanuel Adebayor swung wildly when composure was called for. Three minutes later, Martin Petrov had made it two. It was hardly fair.

Even before Zamora's miss, Fulham had looked the more comfortable side. Diomansy Kamara should have given them the lead after springing City's offside trap, but he dawdled as Given raced to close him down. Chris Baird and Jonathan Greening went close, too.

The hosts, seemingly conscious of a poor record against their guests, threatened through the otherwise anonymous Carlos Tevez and saw a goal from Micah Richards ruled out for little or nothing, but looked a shadow of the side which made such an imperious start to the campaign.

Fulham eventually got their rewards. Duff halved the deficit from Zamora's knockdown, a goal which Hughes admitted "boosted" the visitors' resolve, before Dempsey outjumped the static Lescott, all £24 million (Dh143.8 million) of him, to bounce a header over the sprawling Given.

That City held out, though, perhaps bodes well.